The Party
by Saiyuri-kun
Summary: Nitori's feeling nervous about going to a party hosted by the Iwatobi Swim Club and his fears are well placed, but Rin-senpai is there to rescue him. Rated M to be safe.


Being stuck in a closet with all these horrible things going through his mind was the last thing he had ever wanted. And to think this had all happened because Nitori went to a party he didn't even want to go to in the first place.

It all started when Nagisa handed him an invitation during a joint practice. Nitori never wanted to accept the invite but the card was thrust into his hands and the short blonde ran off to be with his friends. When practice was over and he finished a few more laps after everyone had left, Nitori went into the locker room to get changed.

He wasn't completely surprised to see that Matsuoka was still there.

"Hi, senpai," he gently called.

Despite the softness of the voice, Rin still jumped out of surprise.

"Sorry!" Nitori shouted while bowing. Obviously, Rin had something on his mind, so Nitori decided not to start a conversation with him. But that didn't mean Rin wasn't interested in talking when a familiar piece of paper fell to the ground when Nitori laid down his towel.

"What's that?" Rin asked.

"Huh?" Nitori followed the red head's line of sight to see that his invitation had fallen to the floor. "Oh! It's from Nagisa. He invited me to a party."

"Oh…" Rin said and looked away.

Nitori, not wanting to lose the full attention of the other, quickly asked, "Should I go? I wasn't sure if I should."

Rin raised an eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure they're above messing with you because you're the competition."

"That's not what I meant…" he looked down and balled up his fists slightly, "I don't really know much about them. I'm not their friend. Why would they invite me? What would I even say?"

Nitori's face turned red when he realized how pathetic he just sounded and Rin couldn't help but laugh at the younger boy's blabbering.

"Senpai!?" How could he be so mean?

"Sorry," Rin began to explain, "They're inviting you so you CAN be their friend."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he said turning away.

"So, you think I should go?" Nitori smiled.

"I think it would be good for you. You've been training hard…and a party planned by those morons shouldn't be overwhelming for you."

Nitori grew flustered at the last comment. Since they had gotten to know each other better, Rin was usually understanding of Nitori's weaknesses and didn't make him feel bad about it.

Nitori was surprised to find himself getting excited for the party over the next few days. He had even picked out an outfit. But, of course, when it came to the actually day of the party, dread set in. What if things didn't go well or he said something stupid?

He nervously headed out, waving goodbye to Momo as he left. Heading over to Haru's house, where the party was held, Nitori did his best to block out thinking up until the door opened. Makoto greeted him, which made him give an inward sigh of relief. That is until he started to hear the other voices in the house.

One of those voices was all too familiar and when Nitori saw who it was, he was shocked at first, but then he got a bit angry.

"Matsuoka-senpai! You never told me you were invited!"

"I didn't?" Rin feigned ignorance.

Nitori frowned, "You're so mean!"

Despite his anger, he walked over and sat down in the empty seat next to Rin.

"We could have come together…" Nitori mumbled under his breath.

Rin was oblivious to the younger boy's pouting the rest of the night.

The party was exactly how Nitori had pictured it. Everyone sat around barely talking to him and when a moment did come up for him to speak, he was either drowned out by the others or got too choked up to say more than a few words.

…Just like he had thought it would be; that was until Kou left. Because once she did, everyone shared this look and Nitori was completely lost and bewildered until Nagisa got up and then returned with a large bottle of liquor.

"Um…I think I better get going, too," Nitori said, quietly.

Nagisa clapped his hands down on Nitori's shoulders, "Nope, dude."

"But…" he looked over to Rin for help.

Rin smirked slightly, "No one will force you to drink, so stay. It's fun to watch people get drunk."

"Like Haru!" Makoto chimed in.

Nitori felt a little better, but still on edge. He had never had alcohol before, not even a sip. When he was younger, Nitori had seen what the effects of alcohol and what it did to someone and while he wasn't the boss of his friends, he definitely was the boss of his own body. There was no way he was going to drink anything that anyone offered to him. Nitori moved himself to the corner of the room as he studied the others drink.

It was actually funny to watch like Rin had said. None of them were good at drinking at all. The closest one of them that actually looked like an adult was Haru because he had such a straight face all the time. After two or three drinks they all stopped…well, almost all of them. Nagisa claimed the bottle as his own after everyone stopped drinking.

Nitori couldn't help but let him his inhibitions about drinking fade when he saw the smile on Rin's face as he watched Haru start to talk and laugh a lot. Nitori had barely ever heard the guy's voice, it was a nice change and it seemed to make everyone happy.

Unfortunately, the mood of the party changed after Nagisa had a few more drinks in him. He started to cuddle up on Rei and demand that they play some adult party games. With everyone buzzed, no one really found a reason to object…except for Nitori, who was now trying his best to act like a statue.

The first game that was suggested was spin the bottle. It was short-lived, though because Nagisa was the only one drunk enough to muster up the courage to deal with a lifetime of awkward. The next game was truth and dare, which worked out great for a while until Nagisa ruined it again by asking everyone to whip out their junk every time it was his turn.

That was the end of the games and Nitori sighed happily, returning to his seat next to Rin. …Or so he thought. Makoto accidently blurted out too loudly about Nagisa liquor problem and not to invite him next time. This instantly riled up Nagisa and he started a tantrum of sorts.

Nitori immediately started to back up from the table completely scared, but Nagisa caught him by the collar.

"Where do you think you're going, party pooper?"

The stink of liquor was heavy on his breath and Nitori felt himself go rigid.

"That's enough!" Rin boomed as he grabbed the blonde's hand off of Nitori.

"Don't tell me what to do! I'm just trying to have fun and none of you know how to have it."

Nagisa shook off Rin's hand and went back to grab onto Nitori, who was still standing there frozen.

"Come on, buddy. Let's play!" Nagisa spoke cutely as he pushed Nitori out into the hall before anyone could grab them.

Rin was the first out to grab him, but was confused when Nagisa turned and Nitori had seemed to disappear into thin air.

"Where...?"

Before Rin could process his thoughts, he was pushed through a doorway and the door was shut on him. He had landed on something and it was dark, but all that he could comprehend at the moment was that he had to get back out. Rin reached up for the doorknob from his spot on the floor but it was locked.

There was a loud crash outside.

"Where did you put the key, Nagisa?" Makoto whined.

"I ate it," he laughed.

Rin banged on the door, "Hey!"

"Hey…" It was Haru's voice right on the other side of the door. "I have a spare key somewhere. I'll go find it."

Rin could hear him walking away and then his brain focused for a moment, "Wait, where's Nitori?"

"What?" came a groggy, soft voice next to him on the ground.

Rin jumped slightly when he realized that Nitori was right there and had been pushed in before him. Then it took another moment to realize that they were in a very cramped closet.

"Are you okay?" Rin asked.

"Yeah…"

The reply sounded weak and full of fear. Rin felt horrible.

"I'm sorry. You should have gone home before."

"It was my fault for getting up when I did. …I should know better by now."

"What?" Rin furrowed his eyebrows as he stared into the darkness where Nitori presumably sat.

"I said it was my fault…if having a conversation with alcohol in your system is hard, we can stop."

"No, I'm fine. I didn't actually drink," he snapped in aggravation, "I meant what did you mean by 'I should know better by now'"

Rin didn't need to see Nitori's face to know that he was embarrassed by the slip up.

"I…I just meant that…um…"

"Spit it out, Ai."

"…when I was younger…well, my parents, um…they drank a lot and…"

Rin quickly reached out and pulled Nitori close to him, "I'm sorry."

"S-senpai," he sputtered from the close contact, "It's not your fault. You didn't know."

"No. You gave me all the signs that you weren't comfortable. I was stupid."

"Matsuoka-senpai, I…I accept your apology. Thank you for watching over me."

Nitori knew the quickest way to pull Rin out of feeling sorry was to accept it and he would move on.

As silence collected between, they heard the shuffling of feet and distant voices. Rin abruptly realized that he was still holding Nitori, so he let go and scooted back.

"Matsuoka-senpai?"

"Mmm?"

"You said before that you didn't drink?"

"No, I didn't. We have practice tomorrow and the last thing I wanted you to do was drag my ass back to school at one in the morning."

"Oh…"

Silence reigned for the next minute or two until Nitori shifted and let out an involuntary hiss of pain.

"What's wrong?" Rin asked.

"I think I cut my leg."

"Is it bad?"

"I can't see and I don't want to touch it. My hands got all dirty from something I fell in before. Could you-?"

"Yeah, yeah. Where is it?"

"On my right thigh."

Rin felt around for a moment and grabbed at a knee, "Right leg?"

"Yeah…it's on the inside."

He slid his hand up until he felt a rip in the fabric and then a warm liquid. Quickly but gently searching with his fingers, Rin found that the cut had clotted enough to stop the bleeding. He sighed.

"It's not a big cut. Just don't move too much or it will start to bleed again."

"Got it, thanks."

Then, suddenly, light splayed out from under the door dimly lighting the closet. Their eyes met and Rin was utterly shocked when he saw Nitori. Though he had not heard a single suspicious sound from the small boy the entire time, Nitori's cheeks were completely stained with tears.

"Ai! What's wrong?"

Nitori quickly put his hands to his face and tried to hide the evidence, but his friend had seen everything. Rin got on his knees and moved as close as he could. He grabbed the hands that were covered by the long sleeves of a sweater, which were probably stained with tears and snot by now, and pushed them down.

"Ai-chan…" Rin cooed uncharacteristically.

Nitori looked away, "It's nothing…j-just my leg."

"Don't lie to me," he gritted out.

Rin stared him down until Nitori choked up a cry.

He quickly apologized for the tears, "S-sorry…"

"I…It's okay."

If Rin had learned anything about having a little sister, it was that if someone was crying in front of you because of a problem they had, it meant that you were doing something right. So, he reached out and resting his hand on the crook of Nitori's neck and patiently waited as the younger boy cried for a while longer.

After clearing his throat, Nitori began to explain, "I just haven't thought about my parents in so long. When I was finally able to move away from them…I promised myself I would never let even the thought of them bother me anymore. I broke my promise."

Rin didn't know how to respond, so he blankly stared at the most horribly depressed face he had ever seen…even his own problems didn't compare to the hell Nitori probably went through.

"Ai…I know that I'm not the best guy- and don't go and say I am- but…" he sighed heavily, trying to pick his words correctly, "How about I make you a promise-…no, not a promise. I'll tell you a fact about what's going to happen…" Nitori nervously eyed him, "I know your past has been rough and I can't go back to change it and protect you, but from now on, I'm always here."

Nitori didn't waste a moment to launch himself into Rin's arms.

"Matsuoka-senpai, you're so amazing!" he sobbed into his chest.

Suddenly, there was a loud click and light flooded Rin's vision as the door was open. His face instinctively snapped into a scowl as he eyed the concerned crowd at the door, who were talking a mile a minute.

"About time," he snarled as he picked himself up with Nitori in his arms.

"Is he okay?" Makoto asked.

Rin decided to answer frankly to shut them up, "No, you completely traumatized him. I like you guys, but your party sucks."

Nagisa pushed ahead of the others with an apologetic look on his face, "I'm so sorry."

"O-okay, thank you," came Nitori's muffled answer from Rin's chest.

Rin involuntarily rubbed his friend's back and walked out of the closet, "We're going home."

No one agued with him about it as he walked out the door.


End file.
